Eternal Israel: A Message of Hope

King David proclaimed to Hashem, the
Compassionate One: “You have established for
Yourself Your people Israel as a people unto You
forever” (II Samuel 7:24).

Dear Friends,

In a previous letter of this series, we
discussed how the Kohanim of our people, the
descendants of Aaron, are to serve as a reminder
of the human potential for eternal life. As we
also discussed, we, the People of the Torah, are
to serve as Kohanim – ministers – to the world,
as the Redeeming One told Moshe to convey to our
people the following message when we arrived at
Mount Sinai: “You shall be to Me a kingdom of
Kohanim” (Exodus 19:6).

If the Kohanim of our people are to serve as a
reminder of the human potential for eternal
life, then our entire people – Kohanim for the
world – must also serve as a reminder of this
potential for eternal life. It is therefore not
surprising that a number of passages within our
Sacred Scriptures refer to us as an eternal
people who have an eternal covenant with the
Eternal One. Some of these passages add that our
bond with the Promised Land is also eternal. The
earliest example can be found in the following
Divine promise to our father, Abraham:

“I will establish My covenant between Me and you
and between your descendants after you,
throughout their generations, as an eternal
covenant, to be a God to you and to your
descendants after you; and I will give to you
and to your offspring after you the land of your
sojourns – the whole of the land of Canaan – as
an eternal possession, and I shall be a God to
them.” (Genesis 17:7.8)

The Divine promises to Abraham were passed on to
Isaac (Genesis 26:3,4), and then to Jacob
(28:4,13,14). Centuries later, Hashem, the
Compassionate One, reconfirms our eternal role
in the following promise regarding the messianic
age:

“They will dwell on the land that I gave to My
servant Jacob, within which your ancestors
dwelled; they and their children and their
children's children will dwell upon it forever”
(Ezekiel 37:25).

Hashem adds:

“I will seal a covenant of peace with them; it
will be an eternal covenant with them; and I
will emplace them and increase them, and I will
place My Sanctuary among them forever. My
dwelling place will be among them; I will be a
God to them and they will be a people to Me.
Then the nations will know that I am Hashem Who
sanctifies Israel, when My Sanctuary will be
among them forever.” Ezekiel 37:25-28)

The biblical festivals serve as a reminder of
the eternal covenant between the Eternal One and
Eternal Israel. In fact, the arrival of a
festival suspends personal mourning. For
example, there are seven days of mourning for a
member of one’s immediate family who passed
away; however, with the arrival of one of the
Festivals during the seven days, the mourning
period comes to an abrupt close! Rabbi Samson
Raphael Hirsch explains that the joy of the
Festivals reminds us that we are part of eternal
Klal Yisrael – the Holy Community of
Israel. We are to be aware that this community
“eternally rejuvenates itself”; moreover,
through the knowledge that we belong to this
eternal community, “every thought of individual
mortality vanishes” (Horeb, chap. 43).

We are an immortal people, and the Midrash finds
another reference to this idea in the following
verse:

“For this is God, our God, forever and ever; He
will lead us beyond mortality.” (Psalm 48:15 –
Translation of Midrash Tehillim)

Rabbi Hirsch’s translation of the above verse
follows the translation of the Midrash, and in
his commentary on this verse, he writes, “He
will make us immortal among the nations.” He
also cites the following alternative translation
of the concluding part of the verse: “He leads
us on in eternal youth.” Rabbi Hirsch adds that
both translations convey the message that we are
an eternal people.

In upcoming letters, we hope to discuss the
spiritual causes of the serious dangers facing
our people and the world, as well as the
spiritual solutions. The teachings in this
letter concerning eternal Israel are to remind
us that these dangers should not cause us to
lose hope, for as we discussed in this series,
the story of our people represents the human
story. May we therefore merit to live in the age
when, “He will eliminate death forever” and
“erase tears from all faces” (Isaiah 25:8).

Have a Good and Sweet Shabbos,

Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen (See below)

A Related Teaching:

Based on above prophecy of Isaiah concerning the
death of death, the Midrash states the following
teaching of Rabbi Joshua Ben Levi:

There will be no death in the future that is
to come – neither for Israel, nor for the
nations of the world, as it states that Hashem
will erase tears from “all” faces. (Genesis
Rabbah 26:2 – the version cited in Sefer
Chassidim 368, and in the commentary of Rabbi
Joseph Kara on Isaiah 25:8)